Daily Search Forum Recap: October 27, 2008

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Hosting Adult Images? Use Directories So Google Doesn't Filter You
In May, we talked about getting your images out of Google's SafeSearch filter. That is, Google may deem your images somewhat "questionable" (maybe lewd and lascivious) and won't list your images within the standard (SafeSearch-enabled) image search results. We've been posed with the opposite question in Google Groups. One guy has a few questionable images but doesn't want all of his images being blacklisted just because of a few instances of questionable adult images. JohnMu

Link Your Users to Any Starting Time in a YouTube Video
How many of you have received a link to a lengthy video with the following note: "It gets good at 6:15."? My guess is that you've seen that before and you are not a fan of having to go to YouTube, wait for the video to buffer, and then find out exactly where to put your mouse on the 6:15 marker so that you can see exactly what the guy who was sharing the video

Numerous Google AdWords Editor Issues Reported, Fixed
There are a few unhappy campers who are a bit disappointed with some of issues that relate to Google AdWords and its tool. In a Google Groups thread, a user discovers that he can't actually "Accept" the terms of using the program on a Mac -- it's grayed out. Unfortunately for him, he had to uninstall and reinstall 3 times and he found out that it was actually an application bug. Google has since released

Google Search Engine Sports Broken Link, Few Notice
Few noticed last week that Google seemed to have had a broken link on its homepage. The link "Advertising Programs" was bringing a 404, I believe: I, too, didn't notice, but DigitalPoint Forums members were not the only people who noticed it as I recall seeing a mention of it on a social network I was active on the night of the 24th when this was reported. The link pointed to http://www.google.com/intl/en/ads/ which didn't exist

A New Google AdSense Ad Style?
I am often very reluctant to show some of the threads I find discussing new Google AdSense ad formats. But this one, might be new or might be an extension of Google Gadget Ads, I am not sure. Having said that, let me show you what I found. A DigitalPoint Forums member posted a screen shot of this Google ad. Is this a new AdSense format? I am not sure, but it does look unusual.

Ask Jeeves Now a Porn Star
In February 2006, Jeeves was retired by the folks at Ask.com. It was a sad experience, but it happened. Back then, the Ask blog thanked Jeeves for all his work and set up a special site at (WARNING, do not click this yet) www.jeevesretirement.com/desk/. That website was devoted to Jeeves Retirement journal. What Jeeves, the fictional character, did while on his vacation, where he went, what he enjoyed, etc. Ask.com linked to this site from

Microsoft Gives adCenter a Logo
If you visit adCenter's home page you will notice that Microsoft now has given adCenter a logo. The logo is a oval like blue symbol, next to a small "Microsoft Advertising," with a larger "adCenter" imprint below. Here is a picture: The logo seems relatively new. WebmasterWorld member rehabguy called the logo, "a tornado or a drain," depending on which you find "more relevant" to the brand. Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Sitemaps Bug To Be Fixed Soon?
The other day we reported Google Webmaster Tools Showing 0 Pages Indexed For Sitemaps Users. In short, some of those who have submitted a Sitemap file via Google Webmaster Tools were having issues with those Sitemaps. Many saw their Sitemap files remain in the "pending" status, while others noticed the index count of their Sitemaps stats were reporting 0 pages indexed. Now, none of these reporting glitches have a direct impact on the Google search

Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: October 26, 2008
Google said, loud and clear, the first click free program can be used for web search. Google improves Analytics and ties in AdSense data. Google hosted their third webmaster chat event, I was unable to attend. AdWords is taking up the organic results with a new product listing feature. Yahoo Search Marketing targets local more accurately. AdWords releases API version thirteen. Google Webmaster Tools has a Sitemaps bug. Google sending love letters to Sitemaps users